StarCraft: Frontline: War-Torn
StarCraft: Frontline: War-Torn is a short story in StarCraft: Frontline: Volume 3. Description For years, Senator Corbin Phash used his power and influence to hide his young son Colin's psionic abilities from the Dominion, but their secret has finally been exposed. Now on the run and separated from his father, Colin is hiding among thousands of refugees on a backwater moon. Even if Colin can escape being captured by a fierce Dominion wrangler, how can he stop being haunted by the trauma-induced nightmares of everyone around him? Synopsis UNN reporter Kate Lockwell told the story of Maltair IV; how the zerg arrived and killed everyone except for Corbin and Colin Phash after having been lured by Colin's psionic powers. However, the two disappeared shortly after the marines rescued them. Dominion representative Greggor Altman claimed the child's psychic powers put him in danger and pain, while his father's actions were child abuse and treason. He downplayed the citizenry's political support for the Phashes, claiming they were a vocal minority. The Phashes had separated; Corbin made his way to Umoja and requested asylum from Minister Jorgensen, while Colin lived with Andrew Ballenger, Corbin's former aide, at the Gohbus Moon Refugee Camp. Colin's powers were getting stronger, but this only caused him to read people's nightmares. Meanwhile, wrangler Randall was assigned to find the boy. He used intimidating tactics. Colonel Alexander Davidoff conferred with Randall as Lockwell spoke of the Gohbus disaster and of Ballenger's disappearance, which gave Randall an idea. He asked permission to use a new tracking system, but Davidoff initially refused. When Randall tracked Colin Phash to Gohbus Moon, he tried a non-confrontational approach; offering a free trip off the doomed moon to anyone who turned the child in. When this failed, he was granted permission to use the tracking systems: zerglings who had been "lobotomized", cutting them off from the Zerg Swarm, and given explosive collars to control them. They would use their natural abilities to sense psionics to locate Colin. Randall believed the zerg would scare the populace into giving up Colin, and they were right. The zerg homed in to a neighborhood, but suddenly lost focus. Randall located Ballenger and pistol-whipped him. He knew Colin was nearby and learned how he had evaded the zerg. Randall found him by torturing him with his psi-screen, but was electrocuted by an angry Ballenger. The zerg rushed in, killing Randall when he failed to detonate their collars, as well as Ballenger. Colin himself was rescued by reapers working for Colonel Davidoff. He was sent to the Ghost Academy. As Kate Lockwell reported the "happy ending", Corbin Phash vowed to expose the Ghost Academy. Jorgensen suggested he could pass the story to Lockwell. Characters *Andrew Ballenger *Colin Phash *Corbin Phash *Randall Supporting Characters *Colonel Alexander Davidoff *Minister Jorgensen *Kate Lockwell Minor Characters Note: These characters were only mentioned or had little to no role during the story. *Greggor Altman *Mutt *Smith Notes ''War-Torn takes place in 2500.April 6, 2010. "Timeline". StarCraft II: Heaven's Devils. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). pp. 311 - 323. ISBN 978-1416-55084-6. Veracity and Followups The story continues in StarCraft: Frontline: Volume 4 and culminates in the StarCraft: Ghost Academy series.Michael Paolili, StarCraft: Frontline Vol. 3 Reporting for Duty!. Tokyopop. Accessed on 2009-06-28Donovan, Hope and Troy Lewter, ed. StarCraft: Frontline: Volume 3 (paperback binding). Tokyopop, July 14, 2009. ISBN 978-1427-80832-5. Timeline Contradictions According to War-Torn, the zerg attack on Maltair IV (as seen in Weapon of War) occurred on and around June 3, 2500, the planet being under the rule of the Dominion in a period after the Fall of Tarsonis. That the summary claims that Corbin protected Colin from the Dominion "for years" is an apparent discrepancy in terms of timeframe. Excerpt Michael Paolilli, Kasia Piekarz, Medievaldragon. 2009-05-06. Starcraft Frontline Vol. 3 Preview: War-Torn. Blizzplanet. Accessed 2009-05-06. References Benjamin, Paul and Dave Shramek (w), Sevilla, Hector (p, i). "War-Torn." In StarCraft: Frontline: Volume 3 (paperback binding), pp. 6-47. Tokyopop, July 14, 2009. ISBN 978-1427-80832-5. War-Torn